sholto Posted January 18, 2002 i have some young maidenii in pots- noticed one plant has an ant colony in the bottom of the pot. on closer inspection they were crawling on the plant- they seem to have made a small incision on the top edge of each phyllode about 0.5cm from the base(or this is some natural node), from which they appear to be feeding??? "the private life of plants" featured an ant/acacia symbiosis- fascinating... anyway should i try to prevent this happening to the other plants? don't want them critters sucking out all the mojo Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
twee Posted January 18, 2002 I associate ants with acacias Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten Posted January 18, 2002 let them eat the nectar - won't do any harm. however, do discourage them from nesting in the pot or rootzone as this will kill the plant. My Anadenanthera plants are covered in ants drinking the nectar, however in this case they seem to be doing some damage. the plants started wilting and loosing leaflets. when I killed all the ants the plants recovered within a few days. so maybe too much nectar sucking isn't good. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest wira Posted January 20, 2002 sholto wrote - "they seem to have made a small incision on the top edge of each phyllode about 0.5cm from the base(or this is some natural node)" Unless I'm mistaken that would be the natural gland of the phyllode, rather than an incision made by the ants. The gland on maidenii is roughly at the point you mentioned and is usually quite small. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
